If I were pressed to reduce the entire meaning of religion to just one word, that one word for me would be thanks.

We have nothing that we have not received. All we can be is grateful. On Thanksgiving Day, those who have a formal church affiliation typically include in their Thanksgiving celebration participation in a church service. Those who belong to Eucharistic communities normally celebrate the Eucharist as their best way of giving thanks. Interesting, isn't it, that in celebrating the Euchaist believers are giving thanks, saying thanks, and ritually doing thanks.

Less so now, but common in the American vernacular of fifty years ago, the expression "much obliged" was used to say "thank you." To say you are "much obliged" is to say that you are grateful. The implications of that are worth reflecting upon now. A grateful people will feel an obligation toward others--toward God (for believers) the source of all we have, and toward those less fortunate than we--toward those with less, especially those in need. If gratitude dominated the minds and shaped the values of the majority of the population, what a wonderful world it would be! Gratitude can be the foundation for the exercise of morality.

I think it is impossible for anyone to be simultaneously grateful and unhappy. So the solution to much of the unhappiness that humans experience is a reawakening in the human heart of the idea of gratitude. That's why I think it is a great idea for non-believers to celebrate Thanksgiving. Let anyone start expressing and experiencing gratitude--if not vertically toward God, at least horizontally toward others in the human community--and you'll find that person holding a new lease on happiness.